MARTINSVILLE – Hayden Langkabel looked to be having himself quite the day Saturday afternoon after scoring a game-high 24 points and hitting the game-winning shot in Morristown’s Class A regional semifinal upset win over No. 2 University.

Turns out the senior guard was just getting started.

Langkabel was nearly unstoppable in the evening championship game, scoring a career-high 46 points in leading the No. 4 Yellow Jackets to an 82-64 win over No. 7 Tindley, the defending state champs.

Morristown (26-2) advances to either Seymour or Washington for the March 17 semistate, where they’ll face No. 6 Barr-Reeve. There, a trip to the state championship game is on the line. The regional title is Morristown’s first in 20 years. The Yellow Jackets have never played in a state title game.

“I’ve been in Morristown my whole life,” Langkabel said, noting he watched his older brother, Dylan, go through the program. “I just wanted to come out and make history in this town.”

That, he did. Langkabel and Tindley senior guard Eric Hunter nearly matched each other shot-for-shot early, and set a couple of records in the process. Langkabel scored 15 points in the first quarter alone and had 19 at the half. By then, he’d already passed 1992 Morristown grad Brady Adkins for the school career scoring record of 2,112 points. Langkabel now sits at 2,144.

The Marian University recruit opened the third quarter on a tear. With Tindley (19-8) leading 44-39, Langkabel scored 13 straight points – most coming on hard drives to the hoop. After his sixth bucket during the stretch led to a Morristown 52-44 lead and Tindley timeout, the packed gym of largely Morristown fans erupted.

“It just felt like the game was coming easy,” Langkabel said. “I could get to the basket whenever I wanted. The shot was falling and it was just fun basketball.”

CLOSE

The Yellow Jackets held off University in the Martinsville regional semifinal.
Joe Spears/IndyStar

Langkabel scored 14 in the decisive fourth quarter, during which Morristown went on a 21-6 run after Tindley cut the lead to 60-56. The Jackets outscored Tindley 45-23 in the second half. Junior Logan Laster scored 16 points and senior Eli Streeval added 12.

Hunter, the Tindley senior guard and Purdue recruit, finished with 27 points. He had 17 at halftime, by which he had already passed Park Tudor’s Trevon Bluiett (2,568) as Marion County’s all-time leading scorer. Hunter now sits seventh all-time in state history with 2,583 career points.

“I can’t,” McClelland said. “He’s unbelievable. He’s a terrific kid. You can talk to our principal, athletic director – he’s a great role model. He’s a high character kid. Everything he gets with basketball, he totally deserves. He works so hard in the offseason. He’s a great teammate. I’m so excited for all our kids, but you can tell how excited the kids are for Hayden. That’s what this team is all about.”